europe is far from united. >> nobody at the united nations was surprised that europeans had -- did not have a common stand. it is rare on topics like that that they have, but with a conflict which routes are so far back at a time when european nations were at war, with germany and france being perhaps the best example, the germans have a special relationship with israel because of what happened with germany during the second world war, the cult -- the germans thought about saying no but then lowered it down to abstain because they wanted to be closer to the majority of european countries in what they vote for. van left the -- >> can you give us some perspective on the u.s. position? why are they so opposed to palestinian statehood? >> the u.s. are the closest ally of israel by a large margin, so they do not really have a choice. they have to support israel, especially the obama administration, that has the reputation of being more israel- unfriendly than previous administrations in a very israel-friendly country, especially obama, who does not have the best of relationships with benjam